This disclosure relates to a waste processing unit suitable for using in micro-gravity environments, for example.
For micro-gravity environments, such as in a space vehicle, human waste collection is very difficult. Typically, a motor driven fan is used to pull in fecal matter air and odor and to provide this air to a filter. A motor driven separator pulls in urine and centrifugally separates the urine from the air. The collected urine is stored or vented overboard. Another motor driven fan is used to deliver the urine-separated air to the filter.
The problem with the above solution is that each rotating device, often two fans and one separator are separately driven by a discrete motor and motor controller, which consumes a lot of volume, weight and cost.